


Return

by CharmsDealer



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Modern Setting, Reincarnation, Return, Wishing Well, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmsDealer/pseuds/CharmsDealer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not the way you'd expect the Once and Future King to reappear, perhaps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return

It was overcast. Clouds with stormy bellies rolled slowly across the sky, threatening rain. Merlin sat down by the fountain and watched them, wondering if he had enough time to walk home before the impending deluge. He fished out the change from his pocket and counted a handful of pennies. He tossed one in the air and it arced over his head, landing in the fountain with a soft _plop_. A burst of warmth spread through him and gold tinged the edges of his vison. _  
_

Suddenly, there was a loud, wet _smack_ on the stone slab beside him. Merlin jumped up like a scalded cat and his shopping tumbled to the ground. A pale, clammy hand, clearly a man's by its size, scrabbled at the pitted grey stone of the fountain for purchase.

Merlin was caught between his instinct to run and his instinct to _save his food oh my god the cake had been **five pounds**. _ He caught one of the apples with his foot and bent down to pick up as much as he could without being murdered by the lunatic who was mucking about in the fountain.

" _Christ._ " The fountain was only a few feet deep. How had a grown man managed to get himself in there without anyone noticing? Hang on. _The fountain was only a few feet deep._

As soon as he looked at it, the water inside the fountain began to churn violently. Merlin hadn't noticed when the water had turned brown, almost black. Oh god, this was a magic thing, wasn't it? Merlin's mouth opened and closed wordlessly.

A man, covered in layers of mud and pondweed, began to haul himself out of the fountain. Dark water cascaded off of him in sheets. Rivulets streamed from his dirty blond hair and down his face and neck, streaking the mud on his skin. Bright flashes of steel were exposed under the web of weeds that clung to him.

"...Who the heck are you?"

The man's eyes flashed with recognition. He opened his mouth, frowned, and spat out a penny. “ _Merlin_ , thank Camelot…”

**Author's Note:**

> For Arthur, it's been minutes. For Merlin it's been centuries. This is a modern-AU where Merlin and everyone else has been reincarnated/ they are all normal young adults, and Arthur returns in all his splender...by climbing out of a fountain. The rest is a lot of culture shock and an impending disaster that has need of a leader. Merlin must once again step up to the plate as warlock in a world that is just as opposed to magic, but in a different way. 
> 
> (edited from my tumblr account)


End file.
